History of the Communist Movement in India by Harkishan Singh Surjeet

In common with the pioneering Communist leaders, Surjeet displayed amply the capacity to sacrifice and undergo difficulties. During the partition, he tirelessly worked for communal harmony in violence-torn Punjab. Later he was shifted to Deoli detention camp where he remained till 1944. He was imprisoned in the notorious Lahore Red Fort where he was kept for three months in solitary confinement in terrible conditions. He went underground after the outbreak of the second world war and was arrested in 1940. The same year, he was externed from Punjab and went to Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh where he started a monthly paper, `Chingari’. He was elected as the secretary of the Punjab State Kisan Sabha in 1938. He joined the Communist Party in 1934 and became a member of the Congress Socialist Party in 1935. He came in touch with the early Communist pioneers in Punjab after his release. He was arrested and sent to a reformatory school for juvenile offenders. He hoisted the tricolour in March 1932 at the district court in Hoshiarpur at the age of 16.

Surjeet began his revolutionary career influenced by the martyrdom of Bhagat Singh. It culminated with his leading role in the CPI(M) for an eventful four decades. He played a pioneering role in developing the peasant movement and the Communist Party in Punjab before emerging as a national leader of the Communist Party of India and the All India Kisan Sabha. The seven and a half decades-long political life of Harkishan Singh Surjeet began with his staunch fight against British colonial rule. He died after a prolonged illness on August 1, 2008. The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) records with profound grief the passing away of Comrade Harkishan Singh Surjeet, veteran leader of the CPI(M), an outstanding figure of the Communist movement of the country and prominent national politician. Condolence Resolution of the Polit Bureau

History of the Communist Movement in India by Harkishan Singh Surjeet